(14) "dutiable goods" means any goods which are chargeable to duty and on which duty has not been paid;

(15) "duty" means a duty of customs leviable under this Act;

(16) "entry" in relation to goods means an entry made in a bill of entry, shipping bill or bill of export and includes in the case of goods imported or to be exported by post, the entry referred to in section 82 or the entry made under the regulations made under section 84;

(17) "examination", in relation to any goods, includes measurement and weighment thereof;

(18) "export", with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means taking out of India to a place outside India;

(19) "export goods" means any goods which are to be taken out of India to a place outside India;

(20) "exporter", in relation to any goods at any time between their entry for export and the time when they are exported, includes any owner or any person holding himself out to the exporter;

(21) "foreign-going vessel or aircraft" means any vessel or aircraft for the time being engaged in the carriage of goods or passengers between any port or airport in India and any port or airport outside India, whether touching any intermediate port or airport in India or not, and includes-

(i) any naval vessel of a foreign Government taking part in any naval exercises;

(ii) any vessel engaged in fishing or any other operations outside the territorial waters of India;

(iii) any vessel or aircraft proceeding to a place outside India for any purpose whatsoever;

(21A) "Fund" means the Consumer Welfare Fund established under section 12C of the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944);

(22) "goods" includes-

(a) vessels, aircrafts and vehicles;

(b) stores;

(c) baggage;

(d) currency and negotiable instruments; and

(e) any other kind of movable property;

(23) "import", with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means bringing into India from a place outside India;

(24) "import manifest" or "import report" means the manifest or report required to be delivered under section 30;

(25) "imported goods" means any goods brought into India from a place outside India but does not include goods which have been cleared for home consumption;

(26) "importer", in relation to any goods at any time between their importation and the time when they are cleared for home consumption, includes any owner or any person holding himself out to be the importer;

(27) "India" includes the territorial waters of India;

(28) "Indian customs waters" means the waters extending into the sea up to the limit of contiguous zone of India under section 5 of the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and other Maritime Zones Act, 1976 (80 of 1976) and includes any bay, gulf, harbour, creek or tidal river;

(29) "land customs station" means any place appointed under clause (b) of section 7 to be a land customs station;

(30) "market price", in relation to any goods, means the wholesale price of the goods in the ordinary course of trade in India;

2[(30A) "National Tax Tribunal" means the National Tax Tribunal established under section 3 of the National Tax Tribunal Act, 2005,]

(31) "person-in-charge" means,-

(a) in relation to a vessel, the master of the vessel;

(b) in relation to an aircraft, the commander or pilot-in-charge of the aircraft;

(c) in relation to a railway train, the conductor, guard or other person having the chief direction of the train;

(d) in relation to any other conveyance, the driver or other person-in-charge of the conveyance;

(32) "prescribed" means prescribed by regulations made under this Act;

(33) "prohibited goods" means any goods the import or export of which is subject to any prohibition under this Act or any other law for the time being in force but does not include any such goods in respect of which the conditions subject to which the goods are permitted to be imported or exported have been complied with;

(34) "proper officer", in relation to any functions to be performed under this Act, means the officer of customs who is assigned those functions by the Board or the Commissioner of Customs;

(35) "regulations" means the regulations made by the Board under any provision of this Act;

(36) "rules" means the rules made by the Central Government under any provision of this Act;

(37) "shipping bill" means a shipping bill referred to in section 50;

(38) "stores" means goods for use in a vessel or aircraft and includes fuel and spare parts and other articles of equipment, whether or not for immediate fitting;

(39) "smuggling", in relation to any goods, means any act or omission which will render such goods liable to confiscation under section 111 or section 113;

(40) "tariff value", in relation to any goods, means the tariff value fixed in respect thereof under sub-section (2) of section 14;

(41) "value", in relation to any goods, means the value thereof determined in accordance with the provisions of 3[sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) of section 14];

(42) "vehicle" means conveyance of any kind used on land and includes a railway vehicle;

(43) "warehouse" means a public warehouse appointed under section 57 or a private warehouse licensed under section 58;

(44) "warehoused goods" means goods deposited in a warehouse;

(45) "warehousing station" means a place declared as a warehousing station under section 9.

Section 4. Appointment of officers of customs

1[Appointment of officers of customs

(1) The2[ Board] may appoint such persons as it thinks fit to be officers of customs.

(2) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (1), the3[ Board may authorise a Chief Commissioner of Customs or, a Commissioner of Customs or] a4[ Joint or Assistant Commissioner of Customs or Deputy Commissioner of Customs] to appoint officers of customs below the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Customs or Deputy Commissioner of Customs.]

Section 5. Powers of officers of customs

(1) Subject to such conditions and limitations as the Board may impose, an officer of customs may exercise the powers and discharge the duties conferred or imposed on him under this Act.

(2) An officer of customs may exercise the powers and discharge the duties conferred or imposed under this Act on any other officer of customs who is subordinate to him.

(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in this section,1[ a2[ Commissioner (Appeals)]] shall not exercise the powers and discharge the duties conferred or imposed on an officer of customs other than those specified in Chapter XV and section 108.

Section 6. Entrustment of functions of Board and customs officers on certain other officers

The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, entrust either conditionally or unconditionally to any officer of the Central or the State Government or a local authority any functions of the Board or any officer of customs under this Act.

Chapter 3

Section 7. Appointment of customs ports, airports, etc

1 [(1)]The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint--

(a) the ports andairports which alone shall be customs ports or customs airports for theunloading of imported goods and the loading of export goods or any class ofsuch goods;

2 [(aa) the places whichalone shall be inland container depots for the unloading of imported goods andthe loading of export goods or any class of such goods;]

(b) the places whichalone shall be land customs stations for the clearance of goods imported or tobe exported by land or inland water or any class of such goods;

(c) the routes by whichalone goods or any class of goods specified in the notification may pass byland or inland water into or out of India, or to or from any land customsstation from or to any land frontier;

(d) the ports whichalone shall be coastal ports for the carrying on of trade in coastal goods orany class of such goods with all or any specified ports in India.

3 [(2) Every notification issued under this sectionand in force immediately before the commencement of the Finance Act, 2003 shall, on such commencement, bedeemed to have been issued under the provisions of this section as amended bysection 105 of the Finance Act, 2003 andshall continue to have the same force and effect after such commencementuntil it is amended, rescinded or superseded under the provisions of thissection.]

Section 9. Power to declare places to be warehousing stations

The Board may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare places to be warehousing stations at which alone public warehouses may be appointed and private warehouses may be licensed.

Section 10. Appointment of boarding stations

The1[Commissioner of Customs] may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint, in or near any customs port, a boarding station for the purpose of boarding of, or disembarkation from vessels by officers of customs.